Just a 5 day gap! :) I'm so proud of myself.

As always, thanks to all those who have reviewed. Here's the next chapter.

Ch. 15

"So… do I really need to tell you that was pointless?"

Dean only snorts in answer, not turning from the remains of a wooden fence he's sitting on, the total opposite side of the camp from Sam.

Mark walks up to him, leaning over the fence to rest his arms on the top a foot away from Dean's legs. "We let fights happen here as long as it's one on one just to let them get it out of their system. Then we sit them down and see if there's something we can do about it. With you two though, I'm not sure we'd fully grasp it. I just figured I'd come see if I could help."

"Sorry if I messed up your rules around here," Dean says, sounding genuine.

"Nah. As I said, when you have a camp of mostly men, all armed to the teeth with anger and pent up frustration from not being able to do anything, tensions run high. And not everyone can get along. We allow fair fights. Crow was actually in the Air Force, you know?"

Dean huffs. "No kidding?"

"That's why we call him Crow. One of his buddies had nicknamed him that. Sky is an ex-army man too. Anyway, Crow never was one to follow the rules. Got into his fair share of fights that got him in trouble when he was in the Air Force. Established as we set this place up, that it helped to get it all out. We set up rules, but figured with training and everything fighting is just a good practice run." He chuckles when Dean snorts in amusement. "So… now that you have it all out, what's up?"

Dean sighs. "Just like Bobby. You won't let anything go will you?"

Mark looks to him, smiling softly. "He was a smart one."

Dean nods too, not looking to him. He huffs again. "We've always been on the same wavelength, Sam and I. For a lot of things. The only times we weren't was on the big things. But when it came down to the basics? He was right there with me."

Mark nods though he knows Dean won't see it.

"It was hard having to change to help him," he murmurs. "I had to go against things I grew up hearing from Dad like the touchy feely stuff. I had to make sure I never left him alone if he seemed shaky and make sure he knew I was there at all times or he would panic. It got better. So much better, but it's hard to pull out of that now."

Mark nods. "It's hard to let your kid grow up and go out on their own."

Dean smirks. "That's a perfect analogy." His smirk leaves. "It was the comment about me being careless that got to me. It's been a long time since he's deliberately tried to hurt me. I didn't really think about it before my fist was colliding with his face. And then he came back at me. And I know that was my fault too because he was just mad at me for hurting him back."

Mark hums in agreement.

"We've become soft with each other," he admits. "Not necessarily with anyone else, but with each other, we're very touchy about what we say. More than we used to be. We want to be in each other's good graces usually. But the kid has always known how to push my buttons."

Mark chuckles. "Little brother skill."

Dean nods, almost smiling. "He had it. Still does. He knew how to get a rise at me. And I think I know why he did it."

"Why?"

"He wanted to prove he was getting better. Wanted me to see that he could not flinch back from a punch. That he could deal it all right back. Even when sparring, he knew I was careful. He also knew that if he got me mad enough, I'd forget to be careful. And he stopped being careful too. He was trying to prove that it's time for me to let him come back to himself. He's read to stop looking to me to make it better."

"He won't, you know?"

Dean looks down to Mark, frowning. "Won't what?"

"Won't stop looking to you. He'll always need you, Dean. No need to worry about that. Let him be himself again. I see that you miss it sometimes. I've only met you guys twice before, but I could see that you liked teasing your brother about the things you teased. You liked being able to relax with him. Just be brothers. Let him be that again. He's getting better. By leaps and bounds."

Dean nods. "I know," he murmurs.

"If he says he's ready for something, I'm sure he is. His nervousness is way down, even if he does keep himself separated from everyone."

Dean nods again. "I know."

"You usually think things through this thoroughly? Seems like you actually think about what Sam was trying to say."

Dean shrugs. "Don't usually talk it out with anyone, but I do think about things. It usually takes me a day or two to get back to him on it. Tell him he's right or tell him I'm not changing my mind. But yeah. I think about it once I'm away and not angry or annoyed anymore." He chuckles. "It would save a lot of trouble if I could think about it at the time it's brought up."

Mark smiles. "Nah. Then where'd the self-realization be then?"

"Alright, Yoda."

Mark chuckles. "I'll leave you alone now. Just wanted to make sure we wouldn't have two serial killers mad at each other in our camp."

Dean chuckles. "We aren't that bad, are we?"

"You do stir up a lot of rumors about what your secret side-occupation could be."

Dean full out laughs now.

"Don't ignore your brother," Mark ends with.

Dean looks to him, face going serious. "I won't leave him alone," he answers knowingly. Even if he was still mad, he's not cruel enough to leave his brother to sleep alone tonight when that hasn't happened in the better part of a year.

"You do know he's just worried, right?"

Sam doesn't look up from his hand. He has a speculative look on his face.

Drew sighs. "Sam."

Sam's eyes dart up to him. "I know," he murmurs. He takes one last look at his cards before laying the hand down, face down. He was losing anyway. And wouldn't that have been embarrassing. He and Dean played a ton in the cabin. He was actually quite good. This game was just plain bad luck.

Drew had come in and tossed the deck of cards at him, making him move quickly to snatch them out of the air. He'd looked at them, shrugged, and motioned to the table in the middle of their cabin. Even though they've talked… well, communicated more recently, he didn't know what made Drew brave enough to come into his cabin without asking, but he thought it had something to do with just wanting to be here after seeing the blowout between him and his brother. He was right. Though he and Drew haven't really hung out much, it's easy to see he's a genuinely nice guy and wants to be his friend. They've already played quite a few games of cards tonight.

"Remember what I said the other week?"

Drew sighs. "I'm not getting into your problems with other people. I'm in with you two. I just want to make sure you know that he had a decent argument too."

Sam frowns. "How long were you there?"

Drew grimaces. "Almost from the beginning I think. I figured it wasn't my business so I stayed out of it."

Sam raises an eyebrow.

Drew shrugs guiltily and seems a little hesitant now.

Sam tries to soften his face more. No need to scare the poor guy when he's just trying to be a friend. "Just want him off my back."

Drew frowns. "I've never seen him overly protective of you like I did today. Don't you think you were a little hard on him? He's really worried. Whatever happened with the last fire obviously shook him up too."

Sam glares at the table.

"You were pretty harsh with that careless comment."

Sam grimaces now, looking up. "I know," he murmurs. "Didn't mean it."

Drew sighs, falling back in his chair. "From what I've seen, Dean has never been 'on your back'. He's just used to watching over you. And you're branching away again."

Sam nods. Then looks away again, towards their pushed together beds. "Not much."

Drew shrugs. "He's just worried still. Give him time."

"Why do you care so much?" Sam asks, genuinely curious. His voice is a little less rough with the softness of the question.

Drew shrugs, looking almost shyly away. "Had the same problem with my mom. Now I just wish I had a mom."

Sam nods, looking away again. He understands.

"Don't let anger get in the way. We're going on the mission tomorrow."

Sam nods. "Won't." There's a new grit to his voice now, Drew notices. Determination?

Drew stands, gathering his cards.

They hear footsteps on the front porch, the door opening a few seconds later to Dean coming in and letting the door fall closed behind him. He gives Drew a curious look, eyebrow raised in question.

Drew waves a little, warily. "Hi." He's gotten more used to Sam than Dean. Connecting with that part of Sam he sees the softness in. Dean is a little more rough around the edges. Besides, when both of them are in the same room, they're a bigger presence. Something just shifts in the air. It makes Drew feel like he doesn't quite fit in the works here. "Just playing a few games of cards."

Dean nods. "Always good to have cards around."

Drew nods, giving Sam an encouraging smile before turning and heading out.

Sam thinks to himself. Their cards are…

"On the table in the kitchen still. Didn't think to bring them," Dean answers, detached but seeing Sam's thoughtful look he decided to help fill in the blank.

Sam nods once, walking over to their beds while shedding his over shirt.

Dean still sleeps next to him just in case. Doesn't mean they talk to each other. And they've never slept so far apart in the same space before. They both have thought about the other's points. That doesn't mean they're ready to give up their anger and talk yet.

He and Sam took separate ways. He doesn't like it. At all. But Sam left with the group Mark indicated. Dean stayed with his. He's not sure if it was Sam going to spite him, or Mark doing it to prove a point. He still doesn't like it. What if Sam needs him?

"He'll be fine," Drew hisses, rolling his eyes. "He's a big boy."

Dean snorts but doesn't comment. They're moving in on their destination. Scouts sent ahead a few hours ago came back to report that the humans brought here were already compromised. Either dead or brain dead by now from means they're still trying to figure out. So they're moving in. Blowing up the joint.

After the go ahead from their group leader, everyone moves in under the cover of a barrage of gunfire on the other side of the building. The base here is in a crumbling city. Not much to it really. Blowing it up will be a cinch. It's getting to the deep supports inside that is the problem. It's Crow's small group that's handling that.

Dean and Drew in their group of five other people have to place explosives around the perimeter in case of an escape attempt by any leviathan. They want to experiment on the effects of fire on the creatures. Hopefully they can use the knowledge they gather today.

When they finish setting up their explosives, they all move away from the building, calling in the clear and waiting for the call for everyone else to move away from the site to go through before they push the button.

Dean shows up at Drew's shoulder, eyes alight with something he hasn't seen before. "Ready for some fireworks?" His voice is dark with anticipation of the kill.

"You could just let us do the fun stuff, you know that right?"

"Hell no. I wanna blow things up."

"You know, you're just as scary as Sam sometimes."

Dean looks to him, grinning. "Damn straight." He hears the go ahead from his radio. He grins. "Now watch yourself here. It's about to get a little hot."

Drew ducks behind their temporary barricade (a crumbling wall of a building), covering his ears as Dean pushes the button for the explosives. It does little to keep out the sound of the blast. He peeks back over the wall they're hiding against, watching pieces of wood and flaming sparks fall from the sky, the rest on the building engulfed in flames.

Dean chuckles beside him. "Beautiful." He pulls his gun back around from where it's hanging on his back. "Alright. Let's move."

They both move to strategic locations, ready to block any possible exit if by some chance a leviathan has lived enough to get away. Mostly, they just wanted to ruin whatever they were experimenting with here, but if they can manage to get at a few leviathans down, it'll be even better. That's when it all goes to hell.

Crow's voice is suddenly yelling over the radios. "We've got a problem back here!" Gunfire is heard in the background.

Dean curses, standing and running towards the rest of their group, Drew trailing behind.

"Report Crow!" Sky calls over the radio.

"Leviathans! They had a hidden building!"

"How bad are the odds?" Mark asks.

"Nightmare."

Drew and Dean get to the action then. It's chaos. Crow sees them arrive as they're retreating back towards the two, teeth grit in determination. He lifts his radio in order to be heard over the chaos, eyes on Dean. "Blow them away."

Dean sees the leviathans then. Seven of them. And now that they have a man… or two down, they don't have enough ammo left to take care of them it takes too many bullets to slow them down in the first place. Dean looks to Drew, eyes hard. "You heard the man. Let's do it."

As the rest of Crow's men hold the leviathans back by aiming to maim them, the two set up the last of the explosives in surrounding buildings, trying to be stealthy about it. It's hard, but they eventually have them set up, if not haphazardly just strewn around in hopes it holds them off. The problem? They know they're almost too close to make it far enough away in time. It'll be a scramble for all of them to get away before they have to set the blast.

Dean looks to Crow, giving him the thumbs up and holding up ten fingers.

Crow nods, then motions to his men while lifting his radio. "We might be on a suicide mission boys. Let's try to keep it from being one. T-minus ten seconds. Now."

"Dean!"

Dean's heart does double time at the panic in Sam's voice. His brother must have stolen Mark's radio. Only the leaders can communicate over that line. All leaders communicate with each other, they can be heard by every man on the field but only a leader radio can reply. And then there are the groups that only communicate with their leader and each other.

Sam doesn't say anything else. The 'Dean' hanging in the air heavier than anything else he could have said. Dean knows what he meant anyway. 'You better get your ass back here'.

Drew heard it too, eyes shooting to watch Dean.

Dean is counting backwards from ten, watching the rest of their squad move while slowly backing up himself. He lets his eyes fall closed. 3…2… "Sammy," he murmurs in answer. A silent 'I'll try'. Then he hits the button and the world around them explodes.